Bleeding Hearts
by sioux343
Summary: Persephone's daughter sifts through her mother's memories of her parent's courtship trying to search for what love is and how much it's worth to find it, but the god of temptation may prove to much for her to handle especially when its so easy to give in.
1. Chapter 1

_How can there be so many beautiful things on this earth? My mother has out done herself year. I run my hand down the slanted hill I'm on and I can feel every single blade of grass in between my fingertips. I breathe in deeply and inhale the crystal clear night sky. It's one of those perfect nights where everything is just right for being lazy. I couldn't tell you how long I've sat here looking at the cloudless sky, just staring at the stars, and naming every constellation over and over again. _

_This earth was filled with splendor and most of it came from my mother, Demeter. This particular meadow had been my cradle. When I was young I'd crawl around the purple flowers in wonder as their leaves sheltered my tiny form and the soft whisperings of the wind lulled me to sleep. The smell of the outside world comforted me like the smell of freshly leavened bread would a baker. It was a constant high. I needed it. My body craved the outside, the life that flourished here. This was where I wanted to raise my own children and my grandchildren. I want them to know what it feels like to be wild and one with nature. I would teach them to not just enjoy the life that flourished endlessly, but to guard and appreciate everything that the earth bore. Just like my mother taught me. I watched the flowers I love so much sway in the warm night breeze… or were they trembling? No they weren't swaying at all, but quaking. I sit up quickly only to see a dark silhouette far out in the distance in an open chariot pulled by what could only be demonically possessed animals. I never was partial to animals like I am to plants so the fact of the matter was the animals pulling the chariot could have been tamed horses for all I knew, not that I really stopped to think about it. The thing was coming straight at me. The chariot ripped through the virgin flower beds tearing them up and spitting them out without mercy. My heart started to break. Never mind about me what about all the precious wild violets and sunflowers? It would take a whole two or three seasons to repair the damage done by this monster. _

_I stand up while dirt and plant debris fall out my hair as I shake out my golden mane. The stranger slows his chariot to a stop. With the fiercest gaze I can muster I eye this intruder down hoping he can see me through the night._

_"Halt, sir, I must insist you find a path." I told him haughtily as my anger poured through my words. I would make sure this man would pay for what he had done to my precious meadow. "You've destroyed the fertile soil and flower beds that grow there." I very nearly growled at him. I was ignored._

_Without warning I was suddenly pulled into the chariot and fell to the strangers feet head first as he slapped the backs of his steeds to start running again. I tried to make a break for it shooting my powers and aggravation through my fingertips, but it was worthless. The man simply acted as if I'd done nothing, but ruin the set of clothes he was wearing. "Unhand me." I shout at him and tried to pull my wrist free after he'd grabbed it from my attack on him. He didn't say anything to me except to look straight ahead and steer the chariot to barrel into a crevice in the earth. No, no, no this can't be happening. I squinted my eyes and suddenly the features of the man pop out at me. It was Hades. I'd only seen him a handful of times in my lifetime though he was my Uncle twice over. He rarely came up to Mount Olympus and when he did it was grudgingly. It didn't seem he liked the high spirits of the upbeat crowd. It was him alright, make no mistake, but what did he want with me? I tried to think better thoughts, but horrible images plagued because deep down I knew exactly what he came for in that field. Me._

I shook my head forcefully trying to get out my mother's memories. It was all so much to handle at once. I'd never expected anything like that from my father, though to be fair he did try to warn me before I looked at these that I wouldn't like everything I saw, but still I couldn't see how love could make someone take the happiness of another. It just wasn't fair. No matter how many times I looked and looked through this memory I still couldn't find what I was searching for and that was answers. I collected the swirling vapors and capped the large vial to put it back into the wooden chest set out on my white bedspread. I was sworn to that all I needed was these vials of memories from my mother to understand, but when she had given me these memories for my 500th birthday I never imagined what I'd find in them.

"_Think of me when you look at these and you'll understand what you're looking for. Love, Mom."_ That was it. That was all that was on my note. I'd never heard that my mom was elusive, but then again what did I know? All I had were memories to access her character. I could hardly be blamed for not knowing her, but still I missed her with a deep ache in my chest. How fair were the fates when you knew you would always miss your mother by mere seconds all the time? That you got told how much you looked like her or how much of her personality was inside you? Yet, I would never know, ever. Something that was decided for me even before my conception. I fumble around in my wooden chest looking for the vial that held that particular memory. The one that cut me the deepest all the time. The one that made me weep uncontrollably for hours after I was finished with it. My hand finally stumbled upon the smallest vial that contained a pale blue swirling substance. I sighed before bracing myself with something I'd seen a thousand times and could even repeat every sentence word for word. It was just one of those moments again where I just needed to see it for myself again. The whole thing was just so ridiculous yet it ruled and ruined my life.

I uncapped the bottle and let the mist fill my senses until I became my mother, Persephone, once again. I was in her mind and body. Sadly, these were the moments I lived for because otherwise I would never know what it felt like to even be around her. The only thing I could do was focus and watch as everything unfolded before my eyes.

"_She isn't going back there to that horrid place." My mother, Demeter, hissed vehemently at Hades. "She'll wilt down there, Zeus. Have you no compassion for your daughter, our only child?" At that Demeter turned on her sympathetic pout at the Supreme ruler of the gods. I suppose it's worked before though one way or the other. My mother wanted a child and here I was the product of them both. _

"_You agreed, brother." Hades quiet, eloquent voice butted in reminding Zeus of their previous arrangement. The one where Hades had asked for my hand in marriage and of course Zeus had agreed in a drunken stupor. He had so many children he didn't exactly need me in particular._

"_True, true." Zeus thundered shaking his stone villa to the very core of its foundations. Demeter glared at Zeus truly despising him for his exuberance and carelessness. "I didn't think she would mind all that much." Zeus frowned slightly at his sister's angry face._

"_Now darling, surely we can just forget that entire matter. After all she's back here with me now and that's what she wants… isn't it Persephone?" My mother tried to reign in her anger with every fiber of her being. I could tell just by the way she looked at me, her face straining against trying to contort with rage. It was the only way because Zeus did not enjoy anger being directed towards him. Really who would? He was the King of the gods. If he didn't like something than that was that._

"_Yes, mother." I answered quickly and obediently._

"_There you see-"_

"_However, there is one little problem." Hades said almost gleefully. His dark eyes shone with the kind of mirth I could rarely imagine him having and instead of it making his features handsome, it made him frightening. "Once you eat the food of the underworld you must stay there." I cowered back behind my mother's left side as Zeus pronounced my fate._

"_No!" my mother screeched in indignation. "She has told me, it was only a few pomegranate seeds." _

"_Rules are rules even for goddesses this is true." Zeus explained sternly his brow was one even line as he tried to act like the king he was supposed to be. I was so appalled. My father couldn't be serious._

"_Please, Daddy." I whispered as I felt tears start to fall. I hadn't even realized I was this upset and it wasn't just for show. I truly was sad, this was the only thing I'd ever asked of my father. I normally didn't even acknowledge him as my dad. I knew Hera would be jealous and punish me for various reasons such as being alive, but the fact of the matter is he was my father and I really wanted him to listen._

"_I'm sorry my child. What's done is done. The only thing I can do is try to mend it. How about this hmm? Six months with your mother, then six months with your husband-to-be. Just rotate." Zeus tried to placate everyone only to have the argument between my fiancé and mother escalates. I stared at Hades as he protested against even that generous offer. His lean features made him at least bearable to look at, but inwardly I cringed at the thought of being "married" to him and everything it entailed. I couldn't live in that underworld with no one but him._

"_What will I do without her? She will be my wife!" Hades shouted finally loosing the composure he'd held the entire time. _

"_Six months! Oh she will surely die down there from depression. She needs sunlight and air." Demeter looked as if she was about to bring down the entire mountain with her immense aggravation at the thought of a daughter lost for six months. _

"_Enough!" Zeus said losing his good humor. "I've had enough. This is the order I have laid down. If this will please both of you I have an idea. Once they bear a child the offspring will rotate just as her mother does except opposite. One will have the child while the other has Persephone. Is this not agreeable?"_

_I watched as Hades thought it over before giving a curt nod. My mother seemed to know this was the best deal she could get and hesitantly agreed. I could only stand in shocked disbelief. Had they both even realized that I would never see my daughter? I don't think they did. My mother would have me, but I wouldn't have a child to hold and love. I would just not have a child then. The pain was almost too much to bear. Living in the world of the dead was one thing, but having a child you didn't know was the worst thing anyone could ever lay down as a punishment. What had I ever done to deserve this fate?_

My mother's vision started to fade and I started to get my own mind back just before the sobs started. I'd always known how much pain I'd caused her, but this just confirmed it. She hadn't wanted a child, but here I was. She bore me simultaneously with pain and grief. She knew as soon as she had me that I would be lost to her forever, but she did choose to have me. I suppose some things could be worse such as Tartarus, even though I was forbidden to go there of course I'd visited it many times, but still. Her pain was my pain doubled. I knew how much agony she was in just for her to be a mother, but in the end she lived without me and I without her. Until the end of eternity.

**A/N: This is what I do in my spare time. Write more stories than I can handle. I can't help it if my mind wanders and I end up writing another story when I'm supposed to be finishing one. Oh well tell me what you think. Confused? Well the memories are Persephone and of course her daughter is the one looking at them.**


	2. Chapter 2

I stopped for a moment and peered around my room ticking things off my mental checklist in my head as I tried to remember everything I would need for the next six months. Not that I couldn't just bribe Hermes somehow to send it to me when he came down here to deliver souls, but it wasn't worth the hassle. If I just packed everything correctly in the first place I wouldn't have to worry about a debt I owed to the god and that was one thing I hated. Being indebted to someone, especially a powerful god was not something I ever liked, nor wanted and I tried to stay out of the sticky political situations and one-upping like everyone else loved to play up on Mount Olympus. The whole place was like watching a chess game. One move from someone surly meant that they had plans for moves at least three future turns. They had a game plan as I liked to call it and that just wasn't me. It may because I was brought up in the underworld away from the living for six months every year for my entire life, but I was pretty sure it was because I just didn't like to lie and cheat someone, plain and simple. I was the goddess of entertainment and yes that included gambling and other various things that cheaters played, but I always made sure that those people got their comeuppance. So besides being indebted to people, here's another thing I couldn't stand, it's the people that give into temptation so quickly. Their greed over rules their judgment and how is that fair to the other people in the game? Rules were made for a reason. I liked rules and therefore I made a horrible goddess because everyone knows gods and goddesses threw the rule book out the window all the time.

I guess that's it then. I closed up my suitcase and turned around to sit on my bed and stare out the window of my villa. It was completely separate from my father's palace at least 100 yards away and it was parallel to the Elysian Fields, the place where all the good souls run free. It's practically a paradise for them all everything you could ever want in an afterlife they have, well except if you're waiting for someone to pass on the other side. Don't get me wrong I've seen people mope in this place and it seems almost sinful. There was no other place in the world you could get this kind of peace and happiness. Then again, I've never found someone to love unconditionally like some lovers have told me about. It always fascinated me to listen to certain people's lives and how they lived with love in their hearts for their husband, wife, mistress, or just some girl down the street, forever. Those were my favorite stories. The ones that ended up being great love stories and they make me want to believe in a happily ever after myself sometimes. I can see lovers wandering around out my window sometimes as they wait for their soul mate to come and find them. The hardest part is when they realize, their counterpart's soul wasn't going to make it to the Elysian Fields with them. I had one women plead her case with me on a regular basis about how her husband was a good person, though of course he used to abuse her viciously, but she was so adamant that inside, somewhere very deep, he had a heart of gold. She said she would never be at peace without him. It made me question her sanity and at the same time I ached for her. Of course I couldn't help her because my father's judgment was law down here, but still I wondered. What was this love that made us do such crazy things? It could make this woman deceive herself into believing that without her horrid husband, she was incomplete. Who wanted that feeling? Certainly not me.

"Looking for me to say goodbye?" A deep husky voice rumbled as a head appeared through my window.

"Ah!" I flew back and felt my heart beat out of my chest as I tried to regain some of my composure and dignity. "Adonis, you can't keep doing that!" I wagged my index finger at him furiously.

"You know you love it. Secretly, I think you wish I popped in your window more often." Adonis greeted me like always did nearly half-naked and inhumanly beautiful. The smile placed on his face was light and full of humor; of course it made him look breath-taking. He had a face that every god in the Greek Pantheon would worship and that's saying something. Only a god could have given him that face because out of jealousy for a mere human being so beautiful I'm sure one of them would have taken it away or had misfortune fall upon him had it not been a gift. Luckily, he was beloved by so many gods this didn't pose a threat; however, his beauty had caused many rifts between goddesses. My mother and Aphrodite being just a few of them. When Aphrodite asked her to keep Adonis safe in the underworld with her trying to hide him from the other gods, but of course plans backfire as usual. My mother became so infatuated with him that when the time came for Aphrodite to have him back my mother refused her, because of this Zeus ruled that Adonis was to spend 1/3 of the year with my mother, 1/3 with Aphrodite, and 1/3 wherever he pleased. Though, in the end Adonis was just a mere mortal, and when he died he came down here to the underworld where he became my mother's sort of surrogate son. She thought of him as her child. I should thank him really because he was the reason I was even born. My mother longed so much for a child, after all she couldn't baby Adonis forever, she decided to have me. It's a very sob story, yes, but he is kind of like a connection between my mother and I. I feel as though I can relate to my mother through him because I can find out what she's like because she's raised him and I can just imagine what I would have been like had I been raised by her and not just my father and my grandmother. I'm sure I would have been different somehow. Maybe not quite so uptight, which is because of my grandmother, or so pessimistic like my father. Everything happens for a reason though, be it bad or good. Like how Adonis singlehandedly made best friends worst enemies. From then on Aphrodite and my mother had sworn each other off as foes and of course made power plays to get back at each other. Currently it was at a stale mate though, if you were wondering. I always hear from Adonis my mother's next ridiculous plan for attack against the goddess of love though she's yet to come through with it.

"Lost in thought again? I swear you and your mother could be sisters. It's amazing how you both have the same mannerisms and have yet to meet." Adonis laughed and conjured up an apple out of thin air to take a bite out of.

"Yes, you tell me that frequently."

"I can't believe you were going to leave without telling me goodbye. You know how I'll miss you." Adonis said playfully as he fluttered his long plump eyelashes at me flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes.

"You know I was going to come find you. I'll miss you too, dear brother." I walked over and hugged him gently before snatching the apple out his hand and taking a bite myself. It's true, I've never really thought of Adonis as anything but a sibling yet I appreciate his good looks as much as anyone.

"You little felon and where did you happen to learn that trick?" he asked me good-humoredly.

"Don't play simple, step up and claim your ownscam."

Adonis stands up in all his 6'2 glory and perfection before sweeping down into a regal bow before me. "I confess, it was I who taught the little wench. You'll make me proud yet, but don't worry someone will put you in your place." He gives my nose a little squeeze affectionately.

"Someday someone will put you in yours." I admonish and he just gives me a half a grin.

"What if it's already happened? How little you know about the ways of love. You're still too young to understand." I grinded my fingernails into the palms of my hand. I hated when he treated me like an innocent child. Just because I was still a virgin and chose not to lose my head over some male doesn't mean I'm a child. Even though I know most of the things he's done in his life, because the gods do still talk about him long even long after he's dead, he still hasn't told me from his own mouth specifically and I've yet to figure out why.

I look down at my brown buckle flip flops for a moment before choosing to speak to him again. "Would you like to carry over my bags for me to the reception hall? I think my father's waiting for me."

"Sure, Centra." Adonis tells me affectionately. He nods once before my luggage starts swirling in the air and then a pop sounds and both of them are gone. I'm left alone in my room once again. I sigh and take one last look around knowing I'm going to miss it, but I always look forward to _real_ sunshine. Not the fake kind that they have over in the Elysian Fields, but at least it's some, my father lives closer to the entrance of the underworld because he prefers the darkness that envelopes the rest of his realm. It was why he was so keen on giving me this house; he wanted me to be happy and I was happy here I had all I could ever want or need. I close my eyes and the next thing I know I'm in the wide black marble reception hall in my father's palace. With a place this big, you'd think we got a lot of visitors, but the only things that ever come here are the very few souls my father allows to admit. That's not many. I see him standing next to Adonis, whom he tolerates because of my mother and I, talking in a low voice before he feels my presence.

"Dicentra," he calls using my full name. I wince slightly, only he ever really says it anymore. Of course I heard my mother calls me it as well, though once again I'm not sure if it's the truth.

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Are you ready?"

"I am." I sweep silently over to him and press a hug into his tall form. I stare up at the face that still looks like he couldn't be a day over thirty. His short black hair is slicked back, not a strand out of place. His goatee was trimmed to near perfect precision and his ink black eyes were daunting. If I hadn't grown up with him, I'd most likely be frightened right now, but the look he was giving me was a sad look. It wasn't meant to look menacing; though I'm sure he couldn't help it because it did.

"I'll miss you little one." He tells me gently and for a moment I see pure agony in his eyes. I knew how much he hated this. He knew how much_ I_ hated this.

"I'll miss you too. Tell Mom I love her." I say hesitantly before pressing my hand into his and as I felt his magic pulse through me making it feel like I was in a swirling vortex I heard him say, "I always do."

Ten seconds later I gulped in a lung full of fresh air. The first I'd had in six months and I felt my whole being rejoice. I was back on earth. I was home.

"Darling! You're back." I turned on the spot to see my Grandmother waiting for me on the lawn. She was considerably a lot taller than me towering overhead at a good 6 foot while I was a simple 5'5 and a half. "You're looking positively dreadful." She said her tone changing instantly. "It's that horrid _place_ your mother looks exactly the same when she comes back and yet you both leave with such color!"

"It's good to see you to, Grandma." I grin before enveloping her in a hug. She always smelled of pumpkins and wheat at this time of year. I buried my face in her extremely long straw colored hair that rested on both sides of her chest.

"Yes, come child. Your father already sent your things to your room." She patted me on my head before sending me inside her estate on Mt. Olympus.

**A/N: ok so it's moving a little slow right now, but I have big plans for this story…. Like all the rest of them I just have to write it. I'd really enjoy reviews so tell me what you think! Oh and if anyone was here who reads my other stories. I'm currently sitting on a chapter of Hunger Pains, but I don't want to post it yet because it just doesn't feel right for some reason. It needs more tweaking. So hopefully I'll have that out soon. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Just remember, the sparklier the outfit the better." Thalia told me confidentially as a saw her eye twitch. I felt as though she wanted to wink at me, but thought better of it. Her other sisters, the rest of the nine muses, were packing up to take off to who knows where. It was the winter months and since not much happened on Mt. Olympus during this time they would retire to some tropical isle while I took on their limited duties; mainly the entertainment. The muses would sing and dance all summer on various days their father, Zeus, summoned them to amuse him or for different various parties that were held annually on the mountain; There were only two main parties during the winter and it was my responsibility to entertain hundreds of immortals-gods, goddesses, nymphs, and even some satyrs and maenads. It was nerve wracking especially if you were a follow up act to nine beautiful goddesses with voices like sirens. However, I should feel lucky that all of them chose me to do this. I am the goddess of entertainment after all, that would have been embarrassing.

"More like the sluttier the better, eh sister?" Clio said in her high soprano voice that sounded like chimes tinkling together. She gave Thalia's choice of outfit, a bikini top and short shorts, a hard stare.

"We _are_ going to the beach." Thalia shrugged and I ended up being the one winking at her. She had always been my favorite out of all the sisters, probably for reasons such as she didn't take her role as a muse seriously. I felt like her attitude should be mine, entertaining should be like breathing to me because it was so easy for her to do, it just _was_ her. Don't get me wrong I loved entertaining, but I stressed out days before any performance. Thalia was as opposite of me as possible, she hated _singing_ in particular, though brilliant at it, and on more than one occasion in the past few years petitioned to her sisters to let ME be the ninth muse in her stead. Which was an absurd idea. I had a predetermined destiny, so I couldn't.

I fingered the silk sheets below me that rested on Thalia's bed. The Muses, as always when I would just arrive to the land of the living, had called me to their home they all shared near the cliff of the mountain top to give me the low down on all the juicy gossip and what the crowds seemed to be favoring this year in both fashion and music. I always felt an overwhelming sadness at this point. It was a shame I never got to hang out with Thalia and her sisters much or anyone for that matter; I hardly had any friends because even though I was immortal, six months every year can really put the strain on any friendship especially since a lot of mythical creatures that stayed on Mt. Olympus for the summer would start to head out right about now for wherever their normal winter destinations were, though Mt. Olympus was uncharacteristically beautiful in the winter. Of course I can't say I have much to compare it too as I've never seen it in the summer. It was when this meeting started to wind down, as it was doing now, after everything had been spilled from their mouths so fast that a mere mortal would never have been able to catch it, that I realized just how lonely I am. I hung out with my grandmother and dead people. I was such a freak.

I rose slowly unwilling to leave, but I knew when my time was up. I grabbed the handle to the front door before I heard one of them shriek. I never saw which one it was because a second later all the sisters were huddled in one spot piling on top of each other. Nine heads of the same dust-colored brown hair melding together to peer out the large window in the living room to the left of me. The tallest, Clio, stood on her tippy-toes as she edged her way past Calliope who was pressed up against the window pane and Thalia, who was just medium height, pulled her back by grabbing her long hair. And so on it went with all of them and half of me was confused while the other half was just relieved I didn't have siblings.

"It's _him_!"

"It's Deacon!" After that one of them dropped to the floor in a dead faint. I snorted with laughter and rolled my eyes. Deacon? As in the God of Temptation, Deacon? I hadn't seen him in centuries since I was a child. He never lingered around Mt. Olympus, but of course with a mother like nagging Aphrodite, who would? Ok, I'm being a bit harsh; I after all am taking my mother's side in their little feud. I'd never actually talked to the tousled auburn haired goddess with her full pout. She didn't seem to _want_ to recognize me not even in 500 years. She'd avoided me as if I were actually my mother, Persophone, and of course we looked alike almost to a tee except I had my father's deep ebony colored hair and hers was the color of my grandmother's. And if one had compared us next to each other, which never happened except in photos, you could see my face was a little more heart shaped and my eyes a bit more slanted, but other than that we could be sisters.

I tried to move towards the window to see, but realized these attempts were futile. There was no way I would see anything and before I knew it he was gone and some of the sisters started to clear away from the window wistfully.

"Does he not come in the summer?" I asked everyone in general and Thalia answered me with what I can only describe as a love-struck look.

"Of course not! No one knows where he is half the time. Even Aphrodite herself doesn't. You should see the temper tantrums she throws when he does write her and tell her he's going to war. Of course he's immortal and can't die, but I think she fears he takes after his father, Ares, too much. War hungry… but who cares! Dear Zeus, he's gorgeous and as unattainable as the wind." Thalia finished off wistfully. Could she be talking about the Deacon I knew? My memories were a little hazy because it was, in fact, so long ago, but it couldn't be him. He could possibly be gorgeous, but I was just a child when I had met him. Actually I was on the cusp of childhood and adulthood, before I had been frozen into my immortal state. That weird limbo where no one, but perhaps Aphrodite, looked good. My hair had been a bit frizzy, very unmanageable, and my cheeks were still chubby with that soft baby look still lingering longer than I'd wanted it too. I was too thin and very uncoordinated tripping over something as small as a leaf. It was during this time that he'd decided to spend the summer. He couldn't have been too much older than me. Maybe a hundred years give or take because he had just frozen into _his_ immortality. Aphrodite had thrown him a party for this achievement and of course I needed to attend because my grandmother made me.

The few times I got glimpses of him he was with his friends as a slew of nymphs hung around them. He had one draped on each arm. I merely glared at my beautiful grandma who decided to dress me exactly like her, except her taffeta dress looked great on her and on me I just looked like I'd been rolled in a bathroom rug. I tugged at the big bow near my non-existent cleavage and it was in this moment dearest grandmother had deigned it proper to introduce me to him, nymphs and all.

I just remember staring up at him as his unusual colored eyes flickered over me quickly before dismissing me. "My beautiful granddaughter," Demeter smiled fondly at me and he nodded quickly, charmingly.

"How lovely,"

_She_ may have missed the heavy sarcasm and the sweeping look he gave me, but I did not. Nor did I fail to see how when he rejoined his friends they would all look my way and say something under their breath before laughing, cruelly. I refused to cry here. It wasn't the first time I'd been made fun of or the last, but of course with a lot of help from Adonis I'd learn to laugh these things off. Well, I'm pretty sure NO ONE had ever told Adonis he was ugly. He was in the favor of Aphrodite herself, but he still made me feel better and eventually I forgot about Deacon or any others by pushing them to the far recesses of my mind. Nevertheless when I _let_ myself think about it as I sat in my bed alone at night I would hear the echoing laughter and it still stung me deep into my soul.

"What's that face for?" Thalia said appalled. Her voice brought me back to the present and I merely shrugged "I'm going to get ready for the fall feast tonight."

"I bet he will be there!" Calliope said wistfully and the others echoed her anguish as I was closing the door I distinctly heard all of them discussing to delay their trip.

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"Beautiful, as always," I turned around sharply at the sound of Demeter's voice and saw her standing in the double doorway of my large room.

"What are you still going here, grandmother? Aren't you supposed to be there to sort out the harvest and the dinner?"

"I needed a break this year. Besides I've missed you more than usual this summer." She gave me that warm smile and I didn't see a single wrinkle on her still youthful face. She was just as beautiful as ever in her long black silk gown. Simple and elegant, just like her, with her hair in a small twist at her neck. I felt… I'm not sure the right word is overdressed, but definitely stupid standing next to her in my short white strapless dress.

Even though it was fall it was still relatively hot outside. The fall fest was just a large dinner to celebrate the harvest and this usually marked the end of everyone's summer vacation here on Mt. Olympus. I chortled as I walked into the grand temple (the only one on the mountain) and saw all the Muses fidgeting nervously with their hair and dresses. I sat near the head of the table next to my grandmother and across from Hestia. She was always nice, a bit plain, but never had an unkind word to say to me and I appreciated her. Ares took a seat next to her, much to her dismay and mine, and effortlessly looked amazing. Just physical perfection as he drummed his fingers in boredom, though he'd only just sat there a moment. He looked irritable already as if he'd been dragged here and had something more important to do. Almost everybody had filed in the large stone temple and the chatter of every immortal on Olympus was near deafening to me when as if a switch for the volume was flipped everyone went quiet as the front door to the temple opened and Aphrodite walked in so gracefully it was as if she was going in slow motion, which annoyed me to an unvarying degree. This seemed to catch every male's attention in the room though, even Ares, who stopped momentarily fiddling with his hands to glance up at his former lover.

"Still so dramatic after all these years," Demeter whispered in my ear softly

I nodded. It was so very true. Yet, it was the other females in the room that I was curious about because I heard many gasps through the deafening silence as right behind Aphrodite her sons Eros and Deacon followed.

The God of love, Eros, was beautiful in his own right, but he was married and extremely faithful to his wife, especially for belonging to such a philandering mother. I had met his wife, Psyche, several times and considered her my best girl friend. Adonis was the only one who beat her out as Psyche couldn't venture very much to the underworld like he could, but she did invite me to her castle on a neighboring mountain top about once every other week to learn what her mortal family was up to in the underworld and in turn she entertained me with the silly antics of her husband and who he would make fall in love.

No, it wasn't because of Eros, who was a regular on Mt. Olympus anyway; everyone was looking at his half-brother next to him, Deacon. Even I had to make sure my jaw wasn't hanging; it seemed that where his brother was a bit softer looking in his facial features, Deacon was hard and angular with the classic face that I'd heard sonnets written about; His hair was so blonde it looked as white as snow, but it was his eyes that upbraided me. They were that unnatural color that I heard he insisted were turquoise, but there was no way around it. They were purple; it must be hard for him in war to try and pull off a fierce glare with such _girly_ colored eyes. It was this thought that set me into a bout of laughter. I didn't even realize everyone was staring at me as my laughs echoed off the high ceiling. I just couldn't get over that absurd thought. Demeter nudged me with her heel, but I couldn't stop the hysteria. I tried to catch my breath fanning myself almost stopping before I looked straight at Deacon and caught his eye before I fell over again.

Now in a normal state of mind I would have been beyond embarrassed to have hundreds of mythical creatures just staring at me. "Centra, dear why don't you excuse yourself for a bit?" My grandmother said in a bitter sweet voice through her teeth. Still chortling I obliged her getting up and throwing the napkin that was in my lap onto the table.

"My apologies," I managed trying to contain myself for a moment and as I swept out the room I felt those eyes on me. I didn't look to check, but I knew and when I had just made it out the door I burst out laughing once more.


End file.
